I recently purchased a 2 week cruise in the caribbean that starts in around 50 days. I also purchased travelers insurance from United cruises (Access America). They (United Cruises) said at the time I could cancel for any reason and get a full refund. After talking to Access America tonight - it seems you need a medical emergency or death to cancel.
Anyway, the idea was for my fiance and I to get married on the cruise. Either at an island or ship. We were both very excited about this. I then found out I needed a passport or birth certificate. Here is the problem, I was born with one name and then had a given name at around age 12 when my mother married again. They never completed the adoption (just planned on it I guess), so all my IDs (drivers license, degrees, SSN, etc) have my given name with the birth certificate having my birth name.
Seems I cant cancel the trip and am into it for around $7000 now. Which is a lot of money for me. I am also worried that I may not be able to go if I simply cant prove I am a citizen. Even though I was born and raised in the USA my whole life.
Guess I was pretty naive about it since I have never travelled out of the country before, besides canada and mexico. Which never needed more than a picture ID when I went.
Princess said they will refund half my money since the insurance wont help. The airline said they wont give back a cent. This was supposed to be a wedding/honeymoon - but now things are looking pretty grim.
One person at princess suggested something about adding the other name with a hyphen in order to get on the ship. Just very worried that this could be a total disaster.
Will Princess let you do a name change on your reservation so that the name on your cruise ticket matches your birth certificate? Did you get your airline tickets through Princess? If you did, and if they can't change the name on your airline tickets to your birth certificate name, perhaps they can leave your new name on the tickets and you can use your photo I.D. to get on the planes, but use your birth certificate to get on the ship.
Have you considered hiring an attorney to begin the name change process? Then you could take the birth certificate and a legal document explaining the name change is in process.
How on earth was a SSN card issued without proof of your given name? Do as Sandy says. Call Princess and explain the situation. They should be able to do a name change, but might charge an administration fee. You only need the picture ID for the plane tickets if they were purchased separately. You could pay to expedite a passport in your birth name. It doesn't sound like you have even made the plans yet for your wedding. You better get on that too. If you plan to get married on the ship it has to be set up through their wedding department. They only take so many weddings each sailing.
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